A Very Sound City

It’s Not Just Tech…

So many hit records came out of a dumpy studio which happened to have stellar acoustics, and 1 of 4 Neve analog mixing consoles in the world…

“Yes you can do this on your own, but you’ll be a much happier human being, to do it with other human beings, and I can guarantee you that” — Mick Fleetwood

“You still have to have something to do with those tools” — Trent Reznor

“Be true to yourself, and make music that you love. Go out and play, turn people on to your music, spread it yourself. Don’t think it happens any other way” –Rick Rubin

Sound City & The Human Element

I love well done Documentaries. Dave Grohl went way beyond mere facts, figures, and history to put together “Sound City”. Much is said about the creative and human elements of putting together great music, and the interviews of folks such as Tom Petty, Rick Rubin, Stevie Nicks, Lee Ving, Neil Young, and Trent Reznor are spot on.

I very highly recommend Sound City. It’s very much about the ethos of not trying to get computerized perfection, but to get into a Creative Space and Flow, and to produce art with others (and to embrace the little imperfections that occur anytime Humans play instruments Jack White had talked about the same themes in his interview with Conan O’Brien

All of this is not to say that tech and computers don’t have a place in Music Production. They surely do! But I agree with Dave’s view that they should not overwhelm the process.